"I'll...be... right back!" Connie insisted, struggling to walk out the door as Peridot clung to her leg, trying to stop her. "Steven won't let anything bad happen to me!"
Steven gave a weak smile when Connie finally joined him outside after wrestling off her mothers and father. "They'll be watching over you like crazy now, huh?"
"You know it." Connie chuckled, walking him down to the beach with Lion. "I know you probably wanna talk about my crazy space adventure with Sadie right now, but I have to insist you get some-"
"Actually, we need to talk about something else first."
Connie froze and immediately flashed back to the terror on Steven's face when she'd grabbed him so tightly and nearly fused. It was for the right reason, she wasn't pressuring him into it… right? If she was in his shoes, she'd be furious… No doubt he was. She wasn't ready to face his anger, and didn't think she'd ever be. "Right."
"I know we trained with Stevonnie and Jam Buds for that exact moment but it just didn't feel-!"
"Steven, can we talk about this later? Please?" Connie muttered with her head down, making him pause. She couldn't bear to see his face. "I'm… really tired."
There was a long moment of silence before Steven spoke again, he sounded like he'd forced a smile. "Oh, yeah… of course you are…! W-We'll talk about it later then."
Connie peeked up to see Steven walk away in a hunched position, clearly upset at how it had gone.
Lion glared back at her for her cowardice before allowing Steven to get on his back.
"Well… night." Steven whispered with his back turned to her.
"Good night…"
Connie took a deep breath. "You can do this…"
She knocked on the Millers' door and waited for a moment before Barb answered. Normally, she'd be on her mail shift, but it seemed she'd put work on halt to focus on finding her missing daughter. When she saw the girl, she gave a cry in joy. "You're back! I heard that the reason those aliens came was for you!"
Connie winced at the thought as she was ushered inside.
Barb glanced out the door. "So… where's my baby girl? Y-You did bring her home with you, right?"
"... You may want to sit down…"
Connie left the house full of regret. Barb took a long time to say anything after the explanation, and even when she did speak, it was quiet and the simple question of if Connie could give her some time alone. She had agreed at once, of course.
The girl took out her phone to check if she had any missed calls or messages from Steven. There was one that made her stomach drop.
I need to talk to you about what happened. I'm sorta busy for most of the day, but are you free for lunch?
Connie bit her lip. How could Steven not be angry? He was probably just waiting to yell at her and insist they take a break from being friends. That was what Connie would've done anyway, she didn't think too much past that as to what Steven would really do. She thought of Barb again and assumed she'd get a good scolding from her too. Good. She deserved it.
She reached the boardwalk then only to a crowd of the citizens of Beach City, all looking upset. She was surprised it wasn't for her, rather the mayor of the town, it seemed he'd just gotten in front of his van to talk.
"As my manager just stated, the alien abduction plot was not my fault! Rather the Crystal Temps are what lead them here to kidnap everyone-" The Mayor glanced back to someone sitting inside the van, probalay his manager. He whispered something under his breath to him and then turned back to the audience. "Well, it doesn't matter why the abduction was planned: I wasn't a part of it! I didn't get involved in the slightest!"
"Yeah!" Yelled one citizen.
Another cried out. "You should've been involved!"
Connie grimaced. The Mayor had evacuated everyone, that was pretty involved… She felt bad now that he was being blamed for something she did.
"Everyone's safe though! Everyone's accounted for!" Dewey insisted, trying to calm them.
"What about Sadie?!"
Connie saw Barb and Lars step out of the crowd and so let herself sink into it further as to not be seen.
"Sadie?" The Mayor asked.
"My daughter!" Barb cried in anger. "Sadie Miller, she's still in space! Do you even care?!"
The town along with Connie waited with bated breath to see how their leader would respond.
"The doughnut girl…?" He asked for confirmation. He then gave a weak smile and turned to his still in the shadows manager, whispering something once more. He then turned back. "Do not, worry! I will do everything in my power to hire a new doughnut girl! Don't forget to cast your votes for me at the Beach City election!"
The town booed at once and Connie was tempted to join in. How could their mayor say something like that? He was just going to replace Sadie? And not even bother asking how to get her back? Her eyes narrowed in anger as tears came to them. What if Sadie had really died…? He would've tried to replace her then too… He didn't deserve to be mayor. She turned to the person beside her and tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me, who is the mayor's opponent?"
"Nanafu?!"
"Yes, Connie?" Nanafu asked, glancing up from cutting fish at the back counter of the pizza shop.
"Are you really the Mayor's opponent?" Connie asked in confusion. "I never knew you were into politics!"
"Hush hush." The gunga told her before handing her some vegetables to slice up since she was there.
Connie did so, still curious as to why the woman would run against someone that had always gone unimposed. "But you can't be a candidate, you aren't even working on getting the people on your side!"
"Yes I am." The woman smiled, gently taking the vegetables and putting them in clear containers. "Unlike Billiam Dewey, I actually work to make this town happy! By being the best Nanafu and gunga I can be! I help chop the fish and the vegetables, I help make the pizza which makes the people happy. Do you know what doesn't make the people happy?"
Connie shook her head, helping her put a few things in the fridge.
"When they are abandoned…" Nanafu whispered. "The Mayor did that to nothing to stop the attack, nearly costing all the shops, all our neighbors, all my family!"
"Nanafu…" Connie gasped, having never seen the woman so upset.
"That is why I'm running against him. Beach City deserves a true leader."
Connie smiled.
For the next few hours, Connie, Kiki, and Jenny worked hard on campaign material since Nanafu insisted she would have no part in making her running 'glitzy and glammeraed' but the girls could see she was clearly quite excited when she smiled after they left.
They made buttons, banners, tiny flags, t-shirts, anything they could think of to get Beach City's gunga into its government.
The election was in only a few days, they had to act fast.
Those days were filled with handing out the merch, asking the people for support, and trying to avoid any spot that Dewey was campaigning in.
Despite supporting Nanafu, Connie began to notice something in her strategy, something that didn't sit right with her. She hoped it was just a one time thing at first but then the rally came.
"Do you really want a mayor who leaves you for dead?!" Nanafu yelled to the people. "If you go against me, you are asking to get hurt!"
"Whoa, Gunga-" Kiki whispered while Connie winced in shock.
"Hurt by the mayor who has hurt you before, time and time again! If you don't vote, you are doing nothing to help this place, help your family or friends! Do you really want that?! If not then do something! Vote for me, NOW!"
"Fuse with me, NOW!" Connie realized then why this felt so wrong. She pulled Nanafu off.
"Connie, I'm making a good speech, shoo."
"You can't do this!" Connie whispered. "This is a corrupted way of campaigning! You shouldn't be striking fear into the people to get what you want, you're making them feel useless if they don't comply to you! You're using the fear of the unknown and the attack to strengthen their hatred of the enemy and increase their want to be with you but it shouldn't work like that! You shouldn't be asking what they can do for you, you should be saying what you will do for them!"
Nanafu looked surprised but then nodded silently.
The day of the election was finally here. The beach was set with a stage and two podiums at the center. A banner reading 'Speech-A-Palooza' hung at the top.
"Alright, remember what we talked about!" Connie told the elderly woman in her suit and heels as they looked to the stage off the side. "The people do nothing for you, you shouldn't ever force them into anything, you hear?! You need protect hi-them alone! Because together… it'll all go wrong and ruin everything you worked so hard to build-!"
"Girl, I have no idea what you're going on about, but gunga went on stage right after you said "Alright"." Jenny told her.
"What?!" Connie gasped. She then realized there were notecards in the sand and picked them up to read her own handwriting. "Oh no! She can't do this without the cards! She needs those! I worked so hard on them!"
"Connie, you're kinda being a control freak." Kiki sighed, patting her head. "Don't you trust her?"
Connie realized then that she trusted her, and she should've trusted Steven's judgement as well. Those gems hadn't been monsters, far from it. They'd just been trying to stay alive. "Y-Yeah… I do."
Nanafu and Mayor Dewey walked to the stage, one far more calm then the other who knew he probably wouldn't win this. She used a step-ladder to get to the stand and nodded to her sweating opponent who gave a nervous smile and looked like he hadn't slept in days.
The crowd chattered away until the curtain suddenly rose and they hushed themselves.
Mayor Dewey cleared his throat. "People of Beach City. You might think that being a mayor is a fine and glamorous sort of thing! I can understand why my opponent would want the position."
Nanafu nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
"But I've been mayor of this city for a decade, and I know some things that Ms. Nanefua does not." Dewey continued, not getting anymore confident as he went on. "You see, when you're the mayor, you get blamed for everything. When the boardwalk has termites, it's the mayor's fault. When aliens steal people, it's the mayor's fault. When the mayor crashes the mayor mobile into the only cell tower in town, it's the mayor's fault."
Connie glanced out to the crowd to see they all looked distrustful and/or annoyed. She wished she could see Mayor Dewey's campaign manager. Whoever they were, they'd whipped the man into shape to sound at least decent. He wasn't getting booed this time at least.
"Most people can't handle that kind of pressure, but I can! So, I say to you, Beach City citizens, just enjoy our wonderful ocean breeze and don't worry about a thing. Just let Dewey "do it" for you!"
Despite the stumbling, the people collectively agreed his speech wasn't too bad and gave a polite applause.
"Come on, Nanafu. You can do it!" Connie cheered quietly off-stage. She hoped Nanafu could pull off telling the people she'd shoulder it all for them better.
Nanafu looked to her opponent with sympathy. "You know, Mayor Dewey, you are right."
"Wait, no! That's not what you say to your political opponent!" Connie moaned in worry. She then took a breath and once again trusted her.
"I am? A-About what?" Dewey asked in surprise.
"I have blamed you for too many things, and that is not helping."
The crowd began to murmur in confusion. Hadn't her whole campaign been about blaming Dewey? Using the political opportunity as leverage? "Blaming our problems completely on the mayor is not getting us anywhere. When one of us suffers, the town suffers."
The mayor looked shocked when she nodded to him to show she saw him as a part of the town, not above or below it. "When you suffer, Mayor Billiam, the town suffers."
"So, no longer will I point my fingers at you." She opened her hand, raising it to the air. She raised the other hand as well in a promise. "I will extend all my fingers on both my hands to everyone here today and ask that we share responsibility for the welfare and safety of Beach City, together! Thank you."
The crowd screamed in admiration and started chanting for the woman while Dewey tried to rebuttal, sending all his prepared notecards flying.
"Uhh... Did you ever notice how people from Ocean... Town-" The Mayor then sighed, looking upset and tired. "Oh, who am I kidding? Beach City deserves a real mayor. Someone wise and collected like Ms. Nanefua."
The crowd talked amongst themselves while Connie gasped. "What's going on?"
"I withdraw from the race." Dewey announced, most likely to the extreme disappointment of his manager. He shook hands with the new mayor. "You can find the key to the city under the... city welcome mat."
The town cheered as the defeated Dewey walked off.
Connie almost wanted to check if he was alright seeing his sad face but she was nearly trampled by the granddaughters and son of Nanafu, all congratulating her as the people of Beach City gathered around.
"Miss Nanafu, how did you do it?!" Asked one person from the crowd.
"Why didn't you use the alien abduction to pin the mayor where it hurt?"
"What do you say to any voters opposed to you?"
"What I did was in the past, as was the abduction. That's not to say the abduction wasn't a big kettle of fish, it was, but it's done now. I will not urge anyone to vote for me if they don't wish to, that is not how a leader acts. A leader listens to his or her people, and makes the decision. Will the decision be the right one? Who knows? Most of the time under panic, it won't be. But that's alright. They'll get past it and move on with their lives…"
Connie didn't bother to hear the rest of her speech, too worried when her phone buzzed. She saw it was a text from Steven and knew she should talk to him…
I understand why where you're coming from now, I was sorta on a little adventure today… It didn't end good. So, lunch? Please?
The girl felt her heart rate go up. What was she supposed to say to him? She wanted to talk to him now, more than anything in the universe… But she couldn't find any words to even begin her extreme apology. He could never hate her but... he may forgive her and just... walk away.
Connie wouldn't have that.
She clicked her phone off.
Sorry for such a short chapter today, I moved and am now in a new school, so updates may be a bit slow, but they are coming. To think, it's almost the end. I've been thinking of doing another swap cause I cant quit writing. Im thinking The Owl House!